At the Edge of Creation
I once worked with a man
at the age of creation
and he was good to work with,
for he spoke in short bursts of excitement
as though what he had said
before the conjunction
was aged by the sentence’s end.
©Peter Bray 1976
All rights reserved
A Short Serenade
I never would have guessed at graduation from UC Berkeley in 1966 that the next 51 years would include hundreds of poems, 3 chapbooks, a DVD, several websites, a creative newsletter since 1987, a BLOG, and 12-13 original A Cappella songs on Youtube.com and multiple performances at the Rellik Tavern at 726 First Street, Benicia, California. What a Definite Hoot! The most inclusive piece on Youtube is a 16-minute video taping poet-artist friend Tom Stanton uploaded in August of 2012 entitled “Peter Bray at the Rellik,” part of a group performance by Benicia Literary Arts. In it several performance pieces are included, “East Benicia Jail Song,” “Box Top Shop,” “Bottom Back,” and “Dear Writer” plus the Open Mic’ pieces, “Colitis Blue,” and “Can’t Find the Pharaoh/Quarry Song/Rooms & Brooms” Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Bottom Back
All I want is my bottom back
said the bordello to the chief.
All I want is my bottom back
and I could get me a little relief.
Standing here on First Street
with only an upper floor,
if I could get my bottom back,
I could open my own front door!
©Peter Bray, 1994
All rights reserved
Can’t Find The Pharaoh/Quarry Song/Rooms & Brooms
I once worked in a building
with the ceilings on the side
and I never saw my boss,
so I thought he mighta died.
And I never knew the reason that
I never knew his name,
I just realized he was playing in
somebody else’s game.
If you’re ever in a building
and you wonder who’s your boss
and you’ve tried at every doorknob
and you think you’re getting lost,
just remember what I told you,
just remember what I said,
if you can’t find the pharaoh,
then maybe the pharaoh’s dead.
When I first got to the quarry,
the story I was told
was the bigger of the wicker baskets
was the roadway to the gold
so I loaded up my stones
and I dragged them up the river,
when I got there all the man said was
I’d “have to re-deliver.”
‘Cause I’m working for the man
who’s working for the man
in charge of rooms and brooms.
Yeah, I’m working for the man
who’s working for the man
in charge of rooms and brooms.
So I went to the Org Chart
and tried to find my name,
and realized I was invested in
somebody else’s game!
All the shark vests and Bozos
were well inside their boxes,
but I always wondered why
there were so few of the foxes?
‘Cause I’m working for the man
who’s working for the man
in charge of rooms and brooms.
Yeah, I’m working for the man
who’s working for the man
in charge of rooms and brooms.
In charge of rooms and brooms.
So I saddled up a lawn chair
and did what I was told,
and believe it or not it was
the roadway to the gold!
‘Cause another 40 years
and I know I can retire
’cause this ladder to success
ain’t gonna get me any higher.
Why?
‘Cause I’m working for the man
who’s working for the man
in charge of rooms and brooms.
Yeah, I’m working for the man
who’s working for the man
in charge of rooms and brooms.
In charge of rooms and brooms.
In charge of rooms and brooms.
©Peter Bray, 1994
All rights reserved
Peter Bray lives, writes, and works in Benicia
and has written this column since 2008.
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